Studio Art (M.F.A.)

Research + master your craft

The M.F.A. in Studio Art at the School of Art, Architecture and Design offers artists intensive study and research in ceramics, digital art, graphic design, metalsmithing and jewelry design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles.

With the support of internationally renowned faculty, the resources of a top research institution, and the diversity of a liberal arts environment, you will have everything you need to push your work forward. Our graduates are esteemed professors, artists, researchers, and creative professionals all over the world.

Concentrate your practice in one studio area

Advance your creative + academic prowess

The M.F.A. program at IU offers a personalized education focused on your creative and professional goals. With a liberal arts foundation located in a research institution, our M.F.A. program offers unique opportunities.

Cultivate new collaborations

Investigate beyond your studio area. The liberal arts environment allows you to work with diverse people from different disciplines to forge new research themes and topics.

Study with accomplished artists and designers

The most profound experiences I have had thus far are in my expanded critical thinking for how my work falls into the larger discourse of contemporary art—one of the benefits of being in a liberal arts program.

Molly Evans, M.F.A. in textiles

Thesis exhibition

Your final semester in the M.F.A. program is dedicated to creating, installing, and presenting a thesis exhibition. Held in either the Grunwald Gallery of Art or IU Eskenazi Museum of Art, the thesis exhibition offers a space to showcase a cohesive body of work. And the opening reception is a chance to give a gallery talk about your work to the campus and community.

M.F.A. in Studio Art curriculum

M.F.A. candidates in all studio areas must complete 60 credit hours at the graduate level. Most programs are three years and require a three-year residency, with the exception of painting. Painting is a two-year program and requires a two-year residency.

The following credits are required to fulfill the M.F.A. in Studio Art degree program: